(CNS): Cabinet has directed that Ato Modibo Stephens, a former international sprinter, should be deported from the Cayman Islands following his conviction last year for ‘sexting’ with one of his teenage athletes while he worked as a local coach. Stephens, who is married to Caymanian track star Cydonie Mothersill, is originally from Trinidad and also has US citizenship. He was jailed last August for 18 months after his trial but was released late last year. Cabinet has now approved the issuance of an order to oust him from the islands, based on a direction from the court.

According to a statement from the premier’s office, Cabinet is seeking the departure of Stephens by 16 March or as soon as can be arranged by the Department of Immigration after that date. The office said the matter was now with the governor’s office, which is responsible for officially signing the deportation order.

Stephens was granted conditional release from prison in November, just three months after he was sentenced, because he had already served a considerable part of his time on remand before he was tried. The former coach had left Cayman for the United States when the allegations surfaced but he was extradited after he was charged.

He was found guilty on just one count of using an ICT network to annoy, harass or abuse an underage female, but was acquitted of the more serious charges of indecent assault and gross indecency against the same girl as a result of contradictory evidence presented to the court.

Soon after the issue made headlines, it emerged that Stephens was taking legal action against the Cayman Islands Athletics Association, claiming he was booted out without a fair hearing and that he had not been convicted of a sexual offence. At the time of the allegations, Stephens was coaching a team of young athletes and was working with the CIAA.

Given that Stephens is married to a Caymanian and the father of two local children, he is likely to appeal the deportation.

Is it a criminal offence for a teenager to “sext” images of themselves via our telecommunication network?

If not, should it be?

Of course the liability might ultimately fall at the feet of their parents / guardians in the eyes of the court, and that will be the best deterrent of all.

E.g. There was a recent case in the USA where a 17 yr old student male athlete was arrested for child porn, even though it was a sext image willfully sent to him from a 16 yr old female student of the same school.
Who is the actual offender in this case?

Are teenagers being educated and advised regarding what constitutes child pornography, and that a simple selfie can carry tremendous legal and life-changing implications?

We need to have a pragmatic discussion on these everyday situations in these modern times.

It is easy to forget there is / was a 2-way exchange in this case… which only came to light by way of circumstance.

(It reminds me of a notorious local case some years back; Upon her pregnancy, a mother discovered her teenage daughter was having sex with a slightly older young man.
The mother involved the police, the guy was arrested and ultimately jailed.
Following the birth, a paternal DNA test was administered and it was discovered another older gentleman was the actual father.
The girl was around my age at the time, and it was common knowledge that she was only interested in older guys and was engaging is consensual sex with them; self-declared.)

Granted, statutory rape is an open and shut case and these fellas should know better, but we ALL know personal examples of these types of relationships.

In fact, even the current President of France has a very interesting / unsettling “love story” with his wife – and if genders were reversed, I am quite certain imprisonment and “sex offender” status would have been a reality by now, but I digress.

Many teenage girls are “messy” and rebellious and will actively seek older men for sex and relationships … no one can, and shouldn’t try to, say otherwise for I remember it clearly.

Btw, in no way am I suggesting any of the above applies to the case / teenager in question and the offender was clearly in the wrong, not only due to the vast age difference and nature of relationship.

However I believe the original question ought to be addressed as we are living in a technologically advanced time wherein standing legislation and societal biases may be severely lacking.

THIS case. Is just plain sick my friend. Here you have a 14 year old girl with a grown-ass man in his 50’s who has children and grand-children. He is the adult in the situation and should know better, despite the young girl’s promiscuity. He is a predator and a sick pervert who needs to be locked away indefinitely. Sadly he only got a slap on the wrist.

The weak spineless unity government took the easy option. Appease the community by deporting but they know full well and have probably taken advice from the AG that an appeal will be lodged and with a wife and children born here he will be allowed to stay.

9.07am.. I am with you.. I sure wish that all the scum bags could be deported… along with all the other scums that are here destroying our beautiful Cayman Islands…. I further wish we could some how get rid of ALL the scum bags Caymanians. Waiting on time and praying.

“Let his wife go with him cuz she isn’t a real Caymanian anyway, she wasn’t born here”

Lmao at you people. She is Caymanian when she is winning and doing well but her husband is a pedophile yet she sticks by him and suddenly becomes a fake Caymanian. I agree, he should definitely be deported and by her choice to stay with him, she should leave with him as well. No need to stay here and stir shit, which will only get stinker. He already got a slap on the wrist, so haul ass to somewhere else where the justice system won’t be so light on him if he reoffends.

Born Caymanian, paper Caymanian, Martian or other……if she feels the need to stick with that loser she can follow him to wherever he ends up. I can tell you right now, it wouldn’t be me defending this type of disgusting behavior. Does she not worry about the effects this will have on her kids?

I am sure she is dealing with that herself and its not up to you to tell her how to manage her kids. She committed no crime. The only difference here is that unlike so many “holier than thou” people opining on these subjects, he was the one that got caught. There are hundreds more who beat, abuse, rape commit incest, adultery, bestiality and so on who think not getting caught means they are ok….

4:04 pm: it is sad that there are so many instances of this atrocious acts against children flying below the radar, as you allege—and I believe there are many—but that does not mitigate this man’s actions.

Even one case is horrible.

Too many women collude with men in their lives and thus help to perpetuate these crimes.

Just read about a US case in which a man impregnated his daughter twice—and this started when she was 10.

Once again, certain factions of Cayman society are attacking his wife – from a fresh vantage point.

I have grown up around that wonderful girl / woman and have watched her have to endure the most vicious attacks surrounding her nationality, when all she wanted to do was share her amazing talent with the world.

Cydonie is an outstanding athlete as well as a generous and humble individual. She served as an inspiration to countless of Cayman’s youth and has maintained her respectability over the years.

Just as I do every time we see each other nowadays; give her a hug and whisper a word of encouragement in her ear; I publicly extend my support in the midst of this personal storm.

I wish you and your children well and never allow any life circumstance to make you doubt yourself or your integrity.

I still love her as much now as I did back in the day when I was regularly assigned as one of her finish line “catchers” – as she was guaranteed to fall-out as she took the gold.
Not from excitement but because the little mawga’ girl wouldn’t eat!
(Wonderful memories.)

Keep your head up Cydonie, and please do not for one second consider leaving your home, the Cayman Islands.

8.24am… if I was getting that kind of money I would also be generous and humble to the core. It might have started out innocent, but for the kind of money Government afforded her, what have we got to show???

Apologies to Cydonie for the vicious attacks surrounding her nationality. They were misdirected. Caymanians have a habit of pointing anger at foreigners who seek to share or dominate the limelight that should be designated FOR NATIVES ONLY. That is our fault. For example, we allow our government to level the playing field regarding national teams and the Miss Cayman Islands Pageant, which should all be reserved for 2nd generation native Caymanians with strong patriotic backgrounds. NO EXCEPTIONS WHATSOEVER.

I’m not blaming her at all for the fowl actions of her husband and I don’t think people are attacking her per say, apart from the little jabs about her nationality “in light of this debacle”. We all know you are Caymanian when you do great things but you rep your birth country when shit hits the fan on this island. Some reactions are just human normalcy and in this case she apparently has chose to stand by him, which has shocked/hurt a few people. At least it “appears” that’s the case in light of all his other shenanigans since his release and to which, she has not said a word publicly. I personally couldn’t stay with my husband through something like this (especially since he is guilty) but I understand some people take those vows to a whole other level. I’m sure she is a nice person but I do feel he should be deported and she should do the honorable thing by stepping down from her position and start life somewhere else with her husband and kids. People stomach things differently and I just couldn’t swallow this for ANY REASON.

Exactly, where was all his concern for his wife and kids when he ran away the first time?! He was after all, extradited back to Cayman and ironically, wants to remain here after that slap on the wrist. smdh

People power and public pressure forced Cabinet to do the right thing. Politicians care about one thing…getting re-elected.

The public need to use this power wisely and drive Cabinet by applying pressure to act in the public’s best interest because without that collective effort they will continue to make decisions that benefit a select few e.g. Dealing with rising violent crime as a priority and questioning government and demanding answers for the proposed building a cruise berthing port that Cayman does not need and Cayman afford.

He used his family man status and his coaching to hide his dirt. He is a disgrace. I suspect his wife and children would be better off without him. If they need to see him there is skype and air travel. We have enough of our own home grown pervs without importing more and giving them status. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I agree that Mr. Miller played a big part in the Cabinet decision , but if the Public hadn’t shown their discuss with the Cabinet and the Premier , Miller rant would have fallen on deaf ears . l think that this just shows how much power the PUBLIC has in these kind of matters .
That’s why I said that a Citizen petition needs to be handed in to the Governor, saying that we don’t want the undesirable in our Society .

Simple but inaccurate surely. First the article says he was released taking into account time served on remand. Doesn’t sound as if he was released on licence or is still serving any sentence. Second, whilst his marriage and kids may be a consideration the legal process is not dictated by that ( although it may be an issue for any appeal) the legal channels you refer to are the fact that the court can recommend but cabinet has to decide – no reason that couldn’t have been done prior to his release ( and the initial answer from the Premiers Office appeared to be that it had been).

Another one bites the dust another one bites the dust another one gone Yes time to reduce crime in these islands more to come!! Scumbags need to go home plain and simple we got enough problems with our own criminals.

7:43 pm , you sound like a Human Right Commission member, thinking that 2 kids has more rights than 15 or all Caymanian Kids , or his wife trying to defend the scum . Get him away and keep him away from all children , he can make his own decision about his own like he tried before .

Brilliant deduction 7:43pm You are absolutely right fool Webster the Caymanian got more time!! You are right again too we are thinking about our children and that’s exactly why he needs to go! You must be family to the premier who keeps preaching bout these people are here for us which is absolute bull$#@!

WTF is wrong with you?? He and Webster are the same pieces of shit. One just got opportunity to go further. There is no doubt in my mind they both would have had sex with these “underage” girls eventually. No conscience, disgusting pedophiles, they should both be castrated.

7.43am… don’t think for one minute that if we could have deported the a.. grabber we would not have done it. Track record going back years for the a… grabber is not a good one. We suffer in shame. In this case all we can do is wait on karma. And it’s a shame that he still where he is. Sad and painful for most Caymanians.

Good discussion.
What I really love reading persons fb pages about this, is his wife, everyone saying she is a foreigner andshe should go as well. Now when she was representing Cayman she was a. Caymanian but now she’s not.
What Ido hope is that government isn’t still paying her a salary as on of our Sports ambassadors or other any form of salary from us, aside don’t want my tax money going to her husband.

I find the punishment for this crime to be mid-boggling. Why are sentences so harsh in the Cayman Islands? This would not happen in another country. I am afraid to go to Cayman as they might arrest me for breathing, living or being a human being.

I couldn’t agree with you more but there’s one simple problem – ECHR Article 6 guarantees him the right to fight deportation in Court and with a good lawyer he will be able to use Article 8 and possibly Article 3 to block it. The days when you could put the cuffs on a scumbag and throw them on a plane without due process are, sadly, over.

Hopefully common sense and justice will enter….he has not one but TWO other countries to call home. He also ran from Cayman and had to be EXTRADITED to face trial… which clearly tells he does not want to be here…

He already has two nationalities. How many more does he need? He has offended his host country( Cayman) by breaking our laws. He can go back to his country of origin which I hear is Trinidad. He is nothing more than a user looking for the best living and a bunch of fools to tolerate his twisted ideas. Hope the American IRS goes after him next.

He is not Caymanian, but like all spouses he has the right to remain here because he is married to one, he also has Caymanian children

Yes this is going to be expensive, court cases generally always are, and there is a 99% chance he will appeal this deportation order on multiple fronts
This deportation is not the result of any immediate and actual danger to the community of the Cayman Islands, this is the result of a “ruling” of the court of public opinion
Which has the elected members of our government shaking in their proverbial boots
People on Cayman don’t care about nuance or judging each occurrence based on it’s own merits, this is mob mentality
This man is a pariah, the whole island knows who he is, I would be surprised if he even left his house without a fake mustache, glasses and a hoodie in a tinted car

Sending him to the US where he will just be another face in the crowd doesn’t keep teenagers or kids safe,we have plenty persons who are homegrown who abuse minors and mum’s the word when it comes to them, the mob just got a whiff of this situation and made this an indefensible situation and forced the hand of all members of Government

God help us all if the Judiciary doesn’t come the same ruling as the court of public opinion, they might just rip the courts apart brick by brick and dance on the ashes
The people in Cayman scare me far more than some horny pervert looking for a quick teenage conquest (that’s half of the men in Cayman)

He won’t be “just another face in the crowd” in the US. Potential employers will check his background (including via Google which will promptly expose his lack of morals). Besides, our responsibility is to protect our children in Cayman before worrying about anywhere else.

Selfish pervert should have thought of his wife and innocent kids before doing his dirt.

In fact, he would be doing a disservice to his wife and kids by staying! Who wants to associate with him? Which parents are going to let their kids go over to play with his kids? Who is going to hire him?

If he “wins” the right to stay, I hope his life here is absolutely miserable every day.

Dead right. This is an easy human rights case based on Article 8 and possibly even Article 3. Article 6 gives him the right to challenge deportation in court so he for sure won’t be going anywhere in hurry whatever this story says. At the end of it he’ll stay and the MLAs will simply say, ‘We did our best.’